001Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. I don't know. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Good evening. Oh, are we ready? >> Thank you. I should have asked you. Good evening, everyone. I'd like to welcome you to the March 25th, 2026 planning session of the Lovetown Board of Education. May I have a motion to convene the meeting? Maryanne, do I have a second? Jimmy. All in favor? All of us. Uh, may I have a motion to move to executive session for the purpose of
002discussing contract negotiations with CSEA district personnel and to seek advice from district council? Jen, do I have a second? Maryanne. All in favor? It's all of us against? None. We will return at 7:30 and say the pledge of allegiance upon returning. Heat. Heat. Heat up here. Heat. Heat. N. Yeah. Heat. Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey. Hey. Hey. Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, Heat.
003Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey. Hey. Hey. Heat. Heat. Yeah. Heat. Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey. Hey. Hey. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Beautiful. Good evening everybody. Where are we? Over here. >> Oh, perfect. Yes. I would like to welcome you to the March 25th, 2026 planning session of the Levittown Board of Education. May I have a motion to reconvene the meeting? Jen, thank you. Do I have a second? Jimmy. All in favor? Okay. Thank you. Um, please rise everybody for the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of
004the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. May we please have a moment of silence to remember all those serving our country at home and overseas. Thank you. Uh please note that Phyllis Dalton is excused from this meeting. >> Oh, okay. >> Um so I'm gonna actually turn the meeting right over to you, Mr. Winch. >> Thank you, President Lang. Um, at this time I would like to ask the board of education to take their usual spots in front of the table out here. And I am going to invite up the principles of division high school and MacArthur High School. Uh, Mr. Jeffrey Myers from division and Mr. Joseph Sheen from MacArthur High School. And we are going to
005announce our valadictorians and saludiatorans. Yay. What do you love? >> Okay. Uh, so, uh, in the past, I think I usually default to alphabetical order and and go with division, but since I always seem to do that, we're going to start with MacArthur tonight. So, are you ready, Mr. Sheen? >> Thank you, Mr. Winch. And good evening everybody. I'd like to also thank my two phenomenal assistant principles, Mr. Ryan and Mr. Maroy for joining us here tonight as well. The MacArthur High School's class of 2026 saludiatoran is one amazing and incredible young lady. Throughout her four-year tenure at MacArthur, she has obtained a plethora of honors, accolades, and accomplishments. Her overall weighted grade point average is an astounding 104.81. She is a four-year member of our principal's high honor role, four-year platinum member, Renaissance Scholar,
006symbolizing academic excellence, member of our business, math, world language, and national honor societies, and is an AP scholar with distinction. In addition, she was an integral member of both our science olympiad and math mathletes competitive teams where she earned two top 10 finishes in rigorous academic intercolastic competitions in various fields of science and was the recipient of the prestigious Renilia medal as a result of her exceptional performance in math and science along with her top tier ranking in the class. If that wasn't impressive enough, she is fluent in Polish and works each Saturday as an assistant teacher at the Polish Supple School located in Hicksville, where she assists in supporting language and cultural education for kindergarten students learning Polish along with lesson planning, preparing projects, tutoring, and helped organize cultural events to promote engagement. She
007even found time to volunteer her services as this past summer she assisted with daily activities and recreational programs at our very own camp anchor. I recently had a conversation with her guidance counselor, Mr. Conahan, regarding the special young lady and he had this to say. She is always a pleasure to work with and conducts herself in a very professional and respectful manner. She is compassionate and driven individual who inspires others around her and there is no limit to what she can achieve and will undoubtedly thrive in college even more than she has at MacArthur High School. Certainly an accurate assessment by Mr. Conahan. Even though she is still undecided about which college she will be attending in the fall, she has narrowed the list down to either Mallaloy University or Sunni Farmingdale and plans on
008majoring in nursing. As you can see, this is one incredible young lady. And please join me in congratulating the MacArthur High School class of 2026 saludiatoran Sarah Duda. Congratulations. Thank you so much. >> Stay right there. Perfect. >> Okay. And I believe I have one more special honored guest tonight that I'd like to recognize. So when I think of the MacArthur High School class of 2026 validictorian, words like determination, desire, passion, and ambition immediately come to mind. This young lady could very well be the most well-rounded and versatile students I've ever had the fortune of working with during my tenure at Macarthur High School. And just like our saludiatoran, she has also amassed a beyond impressive resume over the past four years. She has obtained an overall weighted grade point average of a mind-boggling 105.19.
009Yes. Anne is a member of the math, world language, and national honor societies. She's a four-year member of the principal's high honor role, a four-year Renaissance scholar, earning platinum status, which symbolizes overall academic excellence, and is also an AP scholar with distinction. In addition, she is an elite member of our highly reputable science Olympiad team and prides herself on her relentless pursuit of excellence in science research as evidenced by cap capturing a first place finish in the New York State Camination Competition coupled with honorable mention accolades in the prestigious Explorer Vision Research Competition. It's also worth mentioning she finished in the 92nd percentile of the national Spanish exam, earning an impressive silver medal. Science research co-advisor Dr. Freriedman had worked with her over the past four years and had this to say regarding this phenomenal
010young lady. Behind the scenes, she is the heart and captain of room C5. Beyond being an intelligent, motivated, and humble role model for all of our research students, she possesses a rare, intuitive kindness and always acts on everyone's best interests. For four years, she has been a fixture in the research room and her smile has made MacArthur a better place. Wellstated, Dr. Freriedman. In addition to her academic excellence, she is also a top tier athlete. While she excelled on the flag football field and volleyball court, I believe it's fair to say that basketball is her main love. As she was a starter on the varsity team all four years she competed. She was named to the all county team as well as being recognized as a scholar athlete her sophomore, junior, and senior seasons. And
011I'm going to give you some breaking news. News Day just named her a first team all Long Island player as well. But the crowning achievement of her illustrious career is becoming the first female basketball basketball player in general nation history to score 1,000 points and grab over 1,000 rebounds. Yes, you heard me correctly. I know it's hard to believe, but she even finds time to volunteer for the benefit of the community as she works as a counselor with kindergarten students at the Levittown Recreational Camp the past four summers, where she found the experience to be a lot of fun, but also a little chaotic. I'm confident that you will all agree to say that if she if we said that she's an impressive young lady would be a major understatement. She will be attending Vasser
012College in the fall and plans on studying neuroscience behavior. It gives me great pleasure to announce that the MacArthur High School class of 2026 validictorian is Megan Campbell. Congratulations. And now interim principal of division high school, Mr. Jeffrey Meyers. Congratulations to all the MacArthur scholars. Um, is this definitely is this on? Okay. It's definitely a hard act to follow. So, I'm a little bit um but definitely impressive. So, good evening members of the board of education, Superintendent Winch, colleagues, families, and students. It is my pleasure to recognize and celebrate the Division Avenue class of 2026 saludiatoran Andrew Joe. Andrew has distinguished himself as one of the most dedicated and intellectually driven students in this graduating class. Throughout his time at Division Avenue High School, he has consistently challenged himself with one of the most rigorous
013academic programs available, taking the most rigorous classes and demonstrating both discipline and a genuine passion for learning. Andrew is the kind of student who leads not through words alone, but through quiet, consistency, and example. He's definitely very humble, very modest, and very quiet. Um, but he brings a calm, focused presence to everything he does, earning the respect of both his peers and his teachers. He has a love for mathematics and particularly has worked in advanced courses like AP calculus and has helped shape his academic path and his future aspirations. Beyond the classroom, Andrew is an accomplished and talented musician. He has performed as saxophone soloist in both our marching band and jazz band and served as first clarinet in our school's pit orchestra. His role as section captain in the marching band reflects not only
014his musical ability, but his leadership, teamwork, and commitment to something larger than himself. Andrew has demonstrated a strong commitment to service throughout his time at division uh through his involvement in the Key Club by contributing several hours to volunteer efforts within our community. This balance of academic excellence, artistic talent, leadership, and service speaks volumes about his character. And what stands out most about Andrew is his humble nature. And despite his many accomplishments, he remains grounded, thoughtful, and sincere. He's a student who consistently does the right thing and supports those around him. Andrew is currently awaiting decisions from Cornell and Columbia University. I believe they come out tomorrow. And he has plans to pursue uh major in physics or engineering uh fields that align perfectly with his strengths and interests. Uh we have every confidence that
015Andrew will continue to thrive and make meaningful contributions wherever his path leads. So congratulation Andrew on being this year's saludiatoran for Division Avenue High School. Congratulations. Doesn't sound like it. Okay. Okay. I I guess I don't know how to say good evening again, but uh good evening everyone. It's truly an honor to stand before you tonight to recognize this year's class of 2026 validator Nish Kir nish accomplishments are lengthy and Mr. Sheen told me to keep this short, so I'm going to try to keep it abbreviated, but and nothing short but nothing short of extraordinary. He is ranked first in this class with the GPA exceeding 105, and he has distinguished himself academically in a way that places him in a league of his own. He earned a perfect PSAT score as a sophomore. So,
016we could clap for that, right? and he is our school's national merit semi- finalist. So this year he earned that title and that's an achievement that reflects both his intellect and his commitment to excellence. But what makes Nish truly special goes far beyond numbers and accolades. From the moment he entered Division Avenue High School, Nish approached his education with intention and purpose. He consistently sought out the most rigorous courses available not for recognition but out of a genuine curiosity and love for learning. That curiosity led him far beyond the classroom. Nish explored advanced topics like Brownian motion which I I don't know what that is through the college level programs and he conducted research in statistical analysis and even designed and coded his own automated stock trading algorithm one that has outperformed market benchmarks. We're
017going to talk after this Nish. Okay. And at the same time, Nish has been a leader across our school community as president of Math Leads, co- captain of Science Olympiad, president of the World Language Honors Society, and a peer leader supporting incoming freshmen. He has made a lasting impact on those around him. Nish is a deeply focused student and over the past four years he has grown into a confident and thoughtful leader. Someone who knows when to step forward and lead and when to step back and support others. He he has developed the ability to communicate complex ideas with clarity and patience making those around him better. And through it all he has remained humble, respectful and grounded. Nish is currently awaiting decisions from uni UPEN Princeton Cornell. He heard back from NYU tonight and
018we got in, right, Nish? Congratulations. Okay. And he's waiting on the Ivy League schools as well. Uh so our fingers are crossed. And he plans to pursue a major in quantitative mathematical modeling. Okay. uh field that perfectly reflects his passion, talent, and future aspirations. So, we're sure wherever you go, Nish, you will be successful and make a positive impact. Congratulations. Okay, we do some photos. So, just hold on one second. Uh, the first photo we're going to do is if we could have our values A lot of two parents. Sorry. Now we're Now we do that. All right. And then we will then do division. Okay. So like rearrange in the middle again. >> Oh yeah. Yeah. Great idea. Can uh the administration from Macarthur come up for this one? Great idea. Got to balance
019it out. bounce out. Ready? Congratulations. So we'll have a lot of celebrations from now until we have your class and they have your names on this class. Um but um just we did also put the back in the back if you want to do your own but on behalf of board of education and administration congratulations know how proud you are. Other than that we're going to continue with our budget meeting which is almost as exciting as this. Feel free to feel free to take photos of me. Whatever you like. You're going to be next, right? >> We're going to continue with the meeting. So, um their happiness. >> Okay, we are going to move on to the budget planning session. So, we are going to ask for the board members just come on out. if
020you uh we are very excited for you so you can still be excited. Uh but if we can move the excitement into the hallway uh that would be really great. Um so yeah, well we just we just want to make sure we get the budget done. So once again congratulations. At this point we are going to turn this over to uh Miss Jacqueline Gadis uh who is going to present our staffing meeting our staff staffing presentation for our budget for 2627. I just want to make one comment because um Mrs. Kadis has done some really great things. Shan's taking over. I know I share a lot of that with you with the board in regards to her amazing um HR uh newsletter that she sends out quarterly. Is it? >> It's Yep. >> quarterly. We
021do a lot more celebrations of staff appreciation throughout the year. Um there's a lot of a lot more trainings that go on on a on a monthly basis for new employees. We're doing like a lot of great things that aren't in this presentation because it's not it's not about celebrations. This was but this isn't this is about the budget for next year. So, it's really just nuts and bolts of of FTEES and so I know she was a little disappointed it's not flashy and exciting of all the great things going on. It's just numbers uh and but uh she's doing a great job over in HR. So, without any further ado, Miss Gadis. >> Thank you, Mr. Winch. I do want to begin by thanking the board of education, our superintendent of schools, Mr. Winch
022um our essential office team along with our directors, our guidance um chairpeople and our principles who really do work endlessly in supporting our staffing needs um and allow us to enhance our programs to offer high quality experience for all of our students while at the same time being fiscally responsible. Um, as you already know, um, we do contract with Boseies every few years, um, to update our district's demographic study. Our most recent update was done this past December in 2025. Um, and we use this study to really help guide us in our projections. Are they 100% accurate? No. But they really offer true guidance in what our projections look like over a 10-year period. Um once we contract with Boseies um they collaborate with me and I offer them a lot of data in regards
023to our actual enrollment um and our beds information and from that they do work according to this survival model this cohort survival model in which they look at the number of births and fertil fertility rates within the Levittown school district community. They also look at migrations in and out of the district transfers to um and from non-public and charter schools as well as resident family characteristics um such a as um composition of fam of the households. Um we use this information and this approach because it's data driven and provides a strong foundation for understanding enrollment trends and really planning for future staffing and resource needs. So what specifically has have they looked at? They they continue to look at the births in Levittown. Um and they did look at it from the year 2010 to
0242023. As we can see there is a peak in 2022. Um which is actually September 220 2027 kindergarten enrollment um which will have a direct implication for future enrollment. According to the chart, um you can see a drop in 2020, which we did talk about last year because that drop in 2020 did lend itself to a smaller kindergarten cohort this year. Um the small increase of births in 2021 project a slightly higher kindergarten enrollment for 2026. We aren't quite there yet, but you have to remember that over the summer we have an average of 60 to 70 new kindergarten entrance coming in over the summer. So, right now we are at about 389. The last I checked when I prepared this presentation, um we are estimating through looking at our trends and summer enrollments over
025the past three years of kindergarten specifically uh a kindergarten enrollment of about 440. Um the the study also looks at home sales in Levittown and as you can see in 2018 was the highest and then we do see a decline over the years with a big decrease in 2023 um and 2024. Um the decline in home sales with the decline in BERS definitely um will affect our enrollment. um the home sales with the rising prices of houses um will impact or can impact the number of younger families moving in with school-aged children. So they definitely do look at that as well in giving us our projections. So these are the projections that they um really uh found and relay to us in our report. I do want to pay you to pay attention. The top
026line, the 25 26 is our current enrollment in the elementary levels. Um over the 10-year period, you can see that there is a gradual decline. There is variation amongst enroll enrollment, but nothing too dramatic. Um but what is important and telling to us is if we look at this year's enrollment, three out of the six elementary schools did reach its peak did this year. We have Lee Road and North Side close to their peak. I mean Lee Road is I think one student away from their peak. Um so if you look if you take into account four of out of our six school are almost at their peak enrollment which lends itself to a decline over the next 10 years. But once again nothing too dramatic. On the secondary level we look at the same
027thing. The 2526 school year is our current enrollment um of 3,985. Um act their peak enrollments are um at various times and there is no dramatic decrease. What is interesting to to notice is that Sulkq and MacArthur over the 10-year period see a small increase um in their enrollment while Wisdom and Division see a decrease. but it hovers around the uh 3,900 um to 4,000 range. And this is a nice visual for you to see that there is a decline anticipated over the next um 10 years, but it it is very gradual. Um and we are taking that into consideration when we're looking at staffing needs. >> It's so weird seeing a 10year number. >> I know. I know. >> But it but it's nothing it's it's nothing. um >> the year 35 35 so
028I know >> it's important to to understand too that the reason for this decline too is when we look at our kindergarten um numbers those coming in compared to our seniors exiting there's a lot more seniors exiting than kindergarteners coming in so right now our senior class exiting is at 596 seniors between both Macarthur um and division and now incoming kindergartens is right now at 389 9 but projected to be about 440. So there is that difference between kindergarteners coming in and seniors exiting which the study attributes to lower birth rates and um less sales in homes. Um while we are seeing a very slight decrease in overall enrollment, we do have to remember that over the course of um the years we have seen an increase in the amount of English language learners. This
029chart is taken was provided to me by the study but it was it's taken from bed's information. So, as you can see, there has been an increase from 2015 16 to 120 um ENL students to now in the past school year 357. That number is based on October numbers. It's not now. And in speaking with Michelle um Ortiz, um we're looking at an ENL enrollment of about 405 ENL students um for the 2627 school year. And that does lend itself to smaller class sizes and additional um support in teaching staff for the the rising population of our ENL. >> Hold on question. >> Yep. Um Maryann has a question. >> Yes. Right. >> Sorry. Um so how do we compare in our our numbers with like the county and statewide are are we >> uh
030we are definitely lower um than the the county and the state but we have reached over that 5% mark but we are lower. >> Yeah just to comment on the 5%. So like if if if you maintain below 5% then there are certain professional development requirements that you're not required to do. Once you reach that threshold, then you are required to provide more. The teachers have to get more professional development. Is it 15% or something like that? The hours. >> Yeah, I think so. Which is not bad because it's good teaching. >> Yeah, it is. Yeah. Sorry. >> Uh Peggy has a question. >> Yeah. I'm just curious out of the students that we have now 5.1%. I'm curious of the variety of languages, which I think will also add another complexity than we have
031now than back when we had in 2015. So, not only are the numbers growing, I'm sure the complexity of the different languages >> there is definitely a variety more variety of languages >> to see at this point. >> Sure. >> How many languages we have where students require? >> Yeah, we can get that for you. It it's it's for a long time it's been around 30 different languages. Um I I was having a conversation with Miss Ortiz, those who don't know, she's our uh director of uh world language and ENL. um she was saying that actually like one of the languages that's growing the fastest here is Chinese >> and that um that you know there comes a point where if you hit certain numbers you have to offer a bilingual program and she was
032actually talking about the fact that that might be one of the bilingual programs we eventually have to offer is in Chinese. So >> thank you. >> Thanks. Okay. >> Like ENL um and we and we had this presentation at the last board we meeting with Miss Wang. Um our uh enrollment of students with disabilities has also been increasing over the years. This information is taken from our beds report back in October. But with a rise in out population of students with disabilities um we will see then an increase in the number of self-contained um ABA sections and ICT section. So we just want to keep that in mind when we're looking at the total number uh of staff that we either have or have to hire. So year-to-year enrollment um so actual numbers from this
033year from our school year and power school are reflected in all the schools on this chart. Um you can if you look at the chart you will see a decrease of approximately 53 students for the 2627 school years. These numbers are based on our current enrollment and actual projection trends that we have seen historically in the district. So historically when looking at the past two years we have seen an average of 142 new entrance over the summer excluding kindergarten. That's that's excluding kindergarten and an additional 241 new entrance on an average during the school year. When taking into consideration those that leave, we have an average of over the past two years of about 100 um the the net difference is about 100 students over the past two years coming into district when you take
034into consideration the new entrance and those that exit out. So when we do these projections as a team, we are looking at that his that historical number so that we have the appropriate staffing in our budget for these new entrance. As you can see on this chart, these are the sections, our current sections on the elementary level. So we look at Abby, all six elementary schools including the sixth grade at both both sulkq and wisdom. If you look at the comparison of the chart and the number of sections, you will see that we are down approximately five sections um with the current guidelines in place of student um enrollment in the classes. So just keep in mind um K1 we follow the guidelines of 22 students in the class, second and third grade 24, fourth
035and fifth grade 26. With those guidelines we are down um nothing to worry about. we are not um accessing positions. We have a large number of retirees due to the incentive. So because of those retirees specifically on the K5 level, we have 10 retirees. Um we are absorbing four of those positions. So we're not accessing positions. We are just not hiring or replacing all the retirees on the elementary level. And it's Go ahead. I have a question in terms of um I guess so when you have kids are classes that are about to break right so how do you take that into account at this point in the year when you don't really like you said if you get a lot of entrance during the summer then that will impact staffing as well so how
036do you like create a cushion for that just out of curiosity like how does that how do you how are you able to like carry >> so when we have our staffing meetings with the elementary teachers and the director of elementary education we really sit down and look at the number of students the number of ICT students, number of ENL students. Um when we see it reaching maybe one uh on the average ratio one student below, we will highlight that highlight that section and plan for a possible breakage over the summer. So we look at the numbers very closely. Um and we don't break at this point, but we do highlight and and plan for that in regards to staffing needs. >> Okay. cuz I know you mentioned that like the buildings were almost at
037capacity in terms of like how many is that what you said before like we have a lot of students in the buildings right we're close to our higher higher numbers so what happens if a class like let's say breaks on a grade level and you don't have room for them like is that is there a contingency plan for that like how is that handled >> can I because we we've gone through that before but just also to finish up because you mentioned it but I don't know if everybody heard it that >> um in regards to the breakage uh not breakage the the splitting of classes there are contingency positions in the budget Right. So there are like just be vacancies that are in the budget. Is it about four usually? Right. >> Yes. >>
038Um that if if a class has to be, you know, split because it's getting to capacity, we do are able to absorb that as time goes on. >> Um it hasn't really gotten to the point where it's been a problem. But I will say that, you know, as we begin to kind of soak up any sort of surplus, right? And one of the areas that we've had surplus is in staffing because we don't have a permanent um retirement incentive in the contract which means that people don't have to tell us when they're going to retire. So other than this year um we don't know when people are going to retire usually until June. And so during the whole budget process we budget for everybody if they're coming back even though some of them are going
039to retire. And then we have what's known as breakage which is which is money that's left over in salary codes. this year because we asked for the information by December 1st. >> Um we were able to budget using the people that we actually know are retiring and then changing those salaries absorbing so there'll be less additional funding in the salary codes at the end of the year because it's more accurately budgeted. So, while it's fine, I mean, it just as we we talked about this internally that like as the years go on, you know, if you all of a sudden have a year where you have more more classes breaking than you would typically, you know, it is something to be more concerned about. We have to budget more contingencies because we don't just have
040like additional money in those codes from people that retire without us knowing. Um, in regards to the extra class and space, so different buildings are in different places. So like MacArthur is is is almost at capacity. Socks almost at capacity. When classes when all of a sudden we need to develop new classes there, we get creative. Um like right now at MacArthur, the spin room is in the wait room. Okay? So it's serving a dual purpose. Um last year at Northside, we had to break a class in the summer, right? And we went over to Northside and we looked at space that was available and we had to actually um renovate a space that wasn't being used as a classroom. Um, so it it does happen. Um, some of the buildings have space like Summit
041has a little bit of space. Um, Garders has a tiny bit of space, but North Side's full. North Side's at capacity. East Broadway, M. Margarus was back there, right? Uh, he stepped out of course at the one moment that I mentioned his name is at capacity. Lee Road is at capacity. Um, and a lot of this is because like when M. Gadis was talking about um and you saw in last month's presentation we offer phenomenal special education programs here >> um those require space and when you have and you're adding on 612 classes uh like we're adding three on for next year like that ends up using and we have to then move around to buildings that have space because we are we are starting to soak up any additional space um we are actually
042hoping that it looks like it's possible that we may not have UPK over at Summit for this year may have found space elsewhere there um which would then free up some more classrooms. But you are correct, finding space can be difficult. Um so far it has not been impossible. Um but we have had to be creative. >> Thank you. I also just want to say I like that we keep our class sizes at manageable um numbers for the for both the children and the teachers. So thank you. >> You're welcome. Thank you. >> Yes. So, I was shopping at Shopright and someone noticed me and started asking questions about the budget and how come when attendance when uh enrollment drops, our tax aren't going down. And I said, you just got to do the math.
043I said, there's 10 buildings. There's 12 grades in each. The we have neighborhood schools. If we lose 50 kids, it's one half a kid per grade. If we lost 500, it's five kids. It doesn't work. You know, it's five kids. There's more than five classes in some buildings. You're not going to cram 50 people into one building. So, but this is the questions you get from the outside people that are not um versed on I guess school staffing and things like that. >> Anyway, just a comment. >> Thanks. I'm just just to just to follow up on that and and not to belabor the point, but we had a conversation about this about like like 30 40 years ago, right? If enrollment went down, then yes, um then then staffing would go down, right? Because
044schools offered pretty generic programs, right? Like you it was kind of all the same, 30 kids in a class and all the classes were the same. And as time has gone on, education has become far more differentiated to meet the needs of students. And so in doing so, that leads to more staff. And so as enrollment does go down, the staffing either flat gets remains flat because you're you're absorbing like we are we're absorbing four in elementary, but we're adding more on ENL and special ed. So um it ends up not you don't you know save any money, but what you do save um is kind of what we talk about with if we were off of bonds, right? You save the fact that you would have paid even more because you still have to
045add that other staff. And so if your enrollment doesn't go down, then it's it's just additional tax burden. And so that at least is a good thing that you would have it would have been more money. So not not I don't think any of us ever saved money anywhere, right? >> I was just going to say I was with my grandson, he understood it. >> Yeah. I just want to say I know other districts that I've been in had to become creative. I'm I'm wondering if we ever had to do this here where we then put art on a cart and music. So, I mean that's not something that's ideal, but that's something that we definitely did it in my school when um I think you might remember this Sharon Hurricane Andrew hit and we
046took in the school part of the school district from Bell Harbor. So, we were integrating quite a few classes in my building and it was pretty pretty uh the numbers were up there to start off with. So, it worked. It's not ideal, but I I think looking for those creative solutions in advance is always a good idea. >> And and we've done that. Um we do try to fight every we look for every other nook and cranny. In fact, both both Miss Ansbach and Mr. Margolas have been involved in those conversations where we're touring the building and saying like we got to find another way. We don't want to put even that with career exploration, right? Putting that on a cart like and we've we've done it. It it degrades those programs. Um, and so
047we don't want to do that, but we do when there's no other Did you want to share something? >> No, just even our esports uh facility, Miss Grady's here, like at Sock, she they house the MacArthur esports team. They don't have space, so they the kids go across to do esports. >> And I think when we spoke to students about that, they had shared that if there would be more students involved in MacArthur if the room was at MacArthur. >> Yeah. Because they don't they love sock, but they don't they're in high school now and they don't necessarily want to go to sock to to do esports. Thank you. So that um what is the diff that's the difference in uh the 25 26 sections at the elementary level when compared to our projections for
048next year. When looking at the um secondary as well as other departmental positions, when comparing uh the 25 26 actual FTEES to what is projected, we do look at a lot of information. We look at our current um staff um our current student registrations. we look at um what's the students that are coming in um and we look at how to best um maximize what we already have. So when working with the uh directors and the principles of all of these um departments and areas, we really work really hard trying to to keep our sections at the proper enrollment but at the same time maximizing all the resources. Um given the increase in in special ed which I which we spoke about last week and I will touch upon later on in the slide and
049ENL and the supports that come with that we are looking at a total increase of about 10 and a half um FTEES once again not that we're hiring and adding 10 more um a lot of those are absorbed by other sections and positions. Okay. So, total um instructional full-time equivalent positions, teaching assistance, there is a difference of 10 because we are staffing additional um self-contained and ABA section. So, we did have to put that number in the budget. Administrators are staying the same. Um and teachers, the overall difference is 5.1 around five. when you look at the number of sections we are absorbing due to the retirees and closely looking at our um student populations in those uh sections. All right, non-instructional FTEES. Um so for this year, our current non-instructional staff for the 20
050um for this school year, we currently have non-instructional staff members and positions inclusive of both full-time and part-time employees. We are not anticipating any changes. We are we are really in a good spot. The only um spot where I'm hoping to see some changes in numbers is our bus drivers and bus attendance. Um but overall our our non-instructional staffing is in good shape and we aren't foreseeing much change in the next school year. >> It would really just be any of the vacancies >> vacancies that we have. So total our total district staff when you add our instructional staff and non instructional staff for this school year is553. So we are a nicesiz district. So what is driving our 2627 budget when it comes down to um staffing? So when we think about the 2627
051staffing budget, it's important to start with we have to have we have contractual obligations. Each of our staff members have their cost of living increases that are norm that are automatically budgeted in for the following school year. But in addition to that, um, as you've seen in the previous special education uh, presentation, we are projecting the need for additional staffing in special ed based on our student needs and new enrollments. Um due to the increase in special ed students which include ICT, self-contain and ABA, we anticipate an additional five special education teachers and 10 teaching assistants to support these programs. We are also planning to we need to add one speech teacher. We are looking to add one BCBA and appoint five psychologists to further support our secondary specifically our middle schools in regards to
052um growing mental health needs that we have seen um this year at the elementary level due to an increase in ENL sections. We will be adding one ENL teacher. Um like I said our our ENL population is estimated to be projected to be over 400. Um, North Side um is growing in in ENL and what we are seeing um with our ENL students, they also are coming um classified so they receive special ed and ENL service which again um require some additional support. Um we also had a wonderful presentation by Dr. Zerionis when we spoke about some additions to our instructional program. Oh, you're welcome. Um in that we are looking we did budget to add one librarian on the elementary level as well as one instructional coach. We also based on her uh presentation
053and the support of the board of education. We are expanding our career exploration program now from the middle from the elementary schools to the middle school and that will be run through the business department and we did budget for one business teacher to be split between both the middle schools um for that. So yes, that looks like a lot, but when you think about the number of retirees, it's it's an only it's an additional five FTE, which I think which is really something really good because we're able to enhance the programs that we have um uh responsibly. Okay, good. All right. outside of the classroom and outside of in instruction. We also look at our extracurricular activities and what we provide students for that overall school experience in the budget for next year. We are
054proud that we are seeing additional clubs. So clubs that already run in some schools. We now are expanding to other schools specifically on the elementary level. We did expand we are expanding K kids um and that is in the budget as well as mock trial. So we're very excited about that. Um, our middle school, specifically Sulk, is is working on um creating a broadcast club. They're in the process of doing it now, a broadcast club that really models what MacArthur is doing. Um, so we have those funds in the budget for next year. Our sports program is growing as well. We are adding teams to our sports program. Um, the J um the flag football team now is ex expanding to the middle school as well as JV golf among amongst others. We we did
055see a rise this uh year and we now budgeted it for next year and the need for assistant coaches which is a good thing because we do have an increase of student interest in sports and more students um trying out and making the teams. And we do have guidelines put in place um that in collaboration with the superintendent and the athletic director when participation in a certain sport reaches a certain amount, we do look to add an assistant coach or two depending on what that amount is. And finally, um the 26 27 budget does reflect looking at like the past three years on areas where we need to better align um what our expenses to what we're allocating. So in areas like athletic supervision, we we better reflected our allocation for the 2627 school year
056to align to what we have spent in the past. Substitute teaching code has also been adjusted. We are seeing an increase in FMLAs over the past few years and whatever t whoever covers those classes whether it is a leave replacement new hire or a teacher who's taken an overage that all comes out of the substitute teaching code. So we had to really modify that code and look deeper into that code um so to make sure that we are um where we need to be when looking at the past three years as well as graduate incentives. We have we do have a lot of of teachers furthering their education um acquiring credits and moving up in regards to to credits. So we did look at some areas and adjust our allocations. So the proposed 2627 budget
057for staffing um this year there is a difference of around $5 million with a department percentage change of an increase of 3.48%. 48%. >> That's it. >> Oh, she's done. >> Oh, okay. >> Thank you. Does anybody on the board have any questions? presentation. >> Um, I think thank you so much. It was a lot of detail and a lot to think about and I know that you're doing all the training and all the goods and stuff. Um, thinking about the bilingual ed program. I I know Michelle Ortiz, she's a leader out there. She's doing great things, plugging her LILT conference that she's hosting in May. Uh, she's definitely a leader in the community. So, I'm sure she's on top of it. Um, but it's it's a challenge to find the staffing to do those
058bilingual ed programs. Um, for instance, you could be a Spanish certified teacher, but you can't get the bilingual extension in, let's say, and just teach on an elementary level. So, it's a very it's a it's a big challenge. So, if it's something um which I'm sure people are already on it, but just to consider to really plan ahead and start to think about what we might need to do to find those certified teachers, grow them from within, encourage people to get them in any way. Um so, just keeping that on the radar because um and then it could be from one year to another it changes. >> Thank you. I mean, absolutely. I know that it's um it's one of those things where we have yet to have to do it historically. Um and it
059is one of those things that kind of like lingers in the back of our minds about like you know because like you said it's a lot. It's it's not a a simple thing of just adding on another teacher. It's um quite complex to start offering basically a new a new version of a program that we've never done before. So I thank you for your suggestions. >> All right. Thank you Jackie. >> Thank you everyone. >> Thank you Miss Kis. Very nice job. And now I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Fabiano. Uh this is our final budget presentation recap of the of the budget season. Um as as Mr. Fabiano prepares himself for this um momentous occasion. Um you know just a couple of comments that you'll see. We have some some some new
060things in this presentation that have come from our ongoing conversations with the controllers audit uh controllers department in New York State. um just minor things in regards to policy updates and presentations that the board needs to review and to be aware of. Um and so it's uh in that aspect meeting with the controls office actually has been beneficial. Would you agree Mr. Fabiano in that aspect? >> Absolutely. >> Um so I guess I made Mr. Fabiano uh I think tires of my interruptions when he presents because we now present at all of the PTA uh meetings for the budget and I I started off saying about how it's Mr. Fabiano and I and I just simply talk the whole time. So, I'm trying to get better at that. Uh but so I'm going to try
061to not interrupt you as much as usual. So, the floor is yours, Mr. Fab. >> No, I I I I welcome interaction. Thank you. Thank you for that. >> Uh so, uh what what we're going to try to do is is not talk too much about things that we've talked about in previous presentations, but if if you feel that there's some gap in what uh you should know and what we're presenting now, please feel free to interrupt me at any time. Um so um the uh this is this is tonight's agenda and and the first the the fir the first piece of this is the uh the review and adoption of a reserve funds annual report uh and the 5-year long-term forecast. Um this is a this is a uh this will be a future
062recommendation by the uh state controllers's office uh that we better present uh to the board uh in a in a public setting our planned use of reserves and uh appropriated fund balance so that when the board adopts the budget, it's on the appropriation side that there was um there's also going to be a motion now that you're going to adopt the plan to fund the budget as well. uh and this will be a future recommendation that they make. Uh and one of the nice things that I I feel about this is that uh the recommendation hasn't even been written and yet we're pretty far along in having satisfied that that request from from their office. So um uh so that that that will require an additional motion when we go into our board meeting and
063you're accepting the budget. You'll also be accepting this uh uh uh uh reserve plan. Uh we're going to be looking at the uh capital projects plan. I'm not not going to spend a lot of time on that because we spent uh uh there was several presentations on capital projects. So I'm really just going to touch upon uh what has transpired since that time uh and and just the changes that we made to the five-year plan. Again, we have a five-year long-term forecast and a five-year capital plan. One uh a question that I've gotten over the years is what why why are we adopting it every year? Because we're updating it every year. So, it's really like a five rolling five-year plan. Not to be intended that we're adopting it every 5 years. Uh finally, an
064update on the tax levy limit and and our proposed levy. Uh that that's the number the most important numbers that we have uh as part of the budget process. Uh and um a review of our two propositions. The first one is the is the actual uh appropriations budget. Uh and then proposition two which is the uh capital reserve proposition. Uh so with that the reserve fund annual report um uh the um we are we are required to uh to to um uh to report back to the board uh based on our own board policy 50 uh 5512. uh the controller has said that um there can be se several enhancements can be made to that and we'll take a look at the uh and we'll take a look at what those are. One is the
065optimal funding levels. Uh we set targets. Um and obviously none of this is is carved in stone. Uh it's the initial it's the initial document and it can be modified as as the years go on as conditions change uh and as the variables to our long-term forecast change. um uh projecting future needs and then uh specifically what is uh what is uh central office recommending uh that we use in terms of uh appropriated fund balance and reserves and then the board accepts that in a motion. All right. So this is um this is really um if if we look at the report and you you've had now three iterations of that report in your budget binders. Uh this is the final iteration. Um it appears uh at a glance if you look at the bottom
066line that we're increasing the use of reserves uh in excess of $1 million. The difference between the 3.2 million and the 4.3 million there. Uh but there is a new reserve uh that was funded with the proceeds of the seaman next sale. Uh and we are uh going going to appropriate $900,000 this year. And we're going to continue uh to uh reduce that amount that's appropriated each year by $100,000. So that at the end of the term uh we'll be left with just appropriating $100,000. The following year it goes away. But this year, but in that way, we don't shock the budget in any given year by losing that revenue. Uh if you add all of those up, uh you will see that that would leave about $3 million left at the end. We are
067going to apply that to the capital reserve. And again, we'll get that to that when we look at the uh capital reserve. Uh in addition, the other big change that we have made is that we've reduced uh the appropriated uh fund balance. Again, another recommendation that's been made not only by the state controller but all our our own uh auditors as well. Uh and uh we've set uh new parameters, new target levels for appropriated fund balance. That's in the reserve plan. That's been preliminarily set at 1.5% to 3.5%. So we have a a wide range of appropriated fund balance that would range be somewhere between about 4 million and 10 million coming in at 7.9. We're sort of in the middle of that range. If things change, we can always modify our target our targets.
068Any any questions on the reserve and the use of um uh use? Yeah. >> Yeah. On the appropriated fund balance that 1.7 where does that end up? Uh so that that is uh that is going to be used. Uh so we actually we we budgeted that this year. So we budget the appropriation 7.9. We're also budgeting the appropriation on the revenue side as well. The difference the 1.7 is being returned to fund balance which is then part of the $15 million that we're uh asking you to approve as part of Proposition two uh capital the capital reserve referendum. All right. The Capital Reserve referendum is the short answer. That's where it's going. >> Yeah. Yeah. Uh okay. Uh long uh the long-term forecast, and I'm not going to spend too much time on this. Um
069it we uh again, we updated annually uh even though it's a a five-year plan. Uh and uh we did we did uh make an update. uh uh I did add an extra page there. We talked earlier uh in the budget process about the base case scenario where everything grows the same. Uh then we talked about the most sensitive variables. Uh for us it's on the revenue side it's the state aid. On the appropriation side it is the uh uh health insurance contributions, the health insurance premiums uh for our employee benefits. uh we looked at that and um what we what we've done is we've updated that uh I've updated that uh chart that graphic that assumption based on the fact that we have been averaging about 10% in state aid over the over the previous
070uh uh five years and that's the number that we utilized in scenario two in the report. However, when we look at that, there was almost a 20% increase about four years ago when they um uh when they funded the foundation aid to the formula for the first time and and Levittown received about almost a 20% increase. Uh we look back at that and I made just we we created another scenario whereby we're not likely to see a gain like that again. So, we went to a three-year average, which is about the same increase as we got this year, 6.7%. And so, you can see what effect that has on the long-term forecast. And again, that's included uh in your uh reserve plan. Um and again, this was just a graphic on the state aid. Uh
071you can see um this this this average over these uh over these five years was 10%. uh but this is probably an anomaly that we would not rely on again. So now we're looking at at at this growth rate which again is averaging about 6.7 and so we've created another scenario there. So if you have any questions on that um uh please please let me know. >> I want to just simply point out just as a point of reference um is that realize that the blue bar is the total amount of state aid. So when you say but 7.4% is higher than 6.7. And so that graph doesn't make sense. The the number in the it's really a composite graph. So the number in the middle is just indicating our increase in in one year
072to the next. Whereas the blue bar indicates the total amount of state aid received. Is that correct, Mr. Fabian? >> That is correct. >> Thank you. Yeah. >> I'm sorry. Um what is unappropriated fund balance? >> Uh that that that is that's also known as the 4% fund. >> Yeah. What? How much is it? I meant that. >> Oh, it it it's a shade under 11 million.9 then. >> What's that? >> That stays under the 4%. Correct. >> Yeah, that's that's Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. Uh so capital project plan. Uh again, we update this every year. Uh inputs from many sources uh just just like our budget. Uh and um so this is just a uh a financial recap of where the capital project fund stands at this moment. Uh I just
073uh I going to walk you through the numbers real quickly uh so that we have some idea of the uh of the scope here, the order of magnitude of what we're talking about. We have about uh $23 million uh remaining in the fund. This uh we've already set aside from this number. This this reflects a set aside of about $14 million for our athletic fields at uh both high schools. Uh so that's already been uh taken out of here even though we don't have approval for that project yet, but we've agreed that we're moving forward with it. So I had to set it aside, so to speak, uh so that we didn't utilize it for anything else. um uh when we uh and so what we're what we're looking what we uh what we want
074to do here now is take a look at what will be left after that. And this is um the uh this is proposition two uh which would enable us if the voters approve it be able to deposit another $15 million back into the capital fund which would give us approximately $20 million uh to move forward with. Any any questions to to that point? Okay. >> Okay. Great. Uh and so we we have uh uh I we pointed these out some of some of the priority projects. These are new projects in the capital in the five-year capital plan. You would not have seen them in the prior plan. So just real briefly, the update to the plan. We've taken out the projects that have been approved and are underway. U things like the fire alarm and
075public address systems. Uh so they're no longer in in the plan. and then we're replacing them with uh newer projects uh as we move forward and the and the needs of the district change. So, uh we'll just point that out. Uh the the need for uh athletic uh practice space uh continues. Uh there's growth that we have a new girls flag football team. Uh bringing them over to another school. Uh so the appetite uh for athletics is certainly there. Uh we're going to be reconstructing both um uh FACS rooms at both middle schools uh to match the high schools. Uh we just >> Yeah. I'm I'm sorry. Family and consumer science rooms. And then uh also handicap accessible bathrooms uh at our athletic fields uh at both high schools. Uh again, if we look to
076set aside that amount of uh um 5.5 million, it would leave us with about 14.3 million. Uh but what you may not get out of this and you know I I you know we see this now. We have taken care of many of the infrastructure projects in the districts. We've done the roofs, we've done the masonary, we've done safety uh in the form of both pure safety upgrades. Public address is really safety. Fire alarm is safety. These are things that we had to do. Uh my my point is now we're getting to the point where we can do use whatever adjective you like. The fun work. Okay. Redesigning classroom space, redesigning instructional space. So now that the things have been taken care of that had to be taken care of, now we can start to
077dedicate money towards uh things that we can see, touch, and feel. And that could, you know, not that not that dry classrooms aren't benefiting the students, but people just don't appreciate that. Um, you you you do appreciate it though when you're walking down a hall of a building and you've got one garbage can after another collecting rainwater. Uh, but uh, thank goodness that's not the case here. Uh, and we've taken care of those things. Now our focus can move towards uh, really improving uh, our buildings for instruction. Um, okay. These are I guess these are the numbers that um that that really matter. Uh our our tax levy limit uh 2.18 uh we are coming in below that uh uh uh one percentage point is 100 basis points. So we're 20 basis points uh below
078our levy limit. I would like to explain something here. A previous iteration of the budget our tax levy limit was 2.56%. Uh we did make some changes that affected the tax levy limit. So this is a revised tax levy limit. However, the state controllers's office which collects the data by March 1st only collects it one time. Newsuesday only goes to the database to pull that data once. So when Newsuesday publishes uh numbers in I'm going to say it's the two Sundays before the vote. I would say probably about May 10th. Uh you are going to see the 2.56. Uh I don't want anybody to be confused, but that's the number that was originally reported. Some of the changes that we made, we could talk about later on or you could ask me about them now.
079Is causing that to go down. However, there was no change in the proposed tax levy. Our goal was to keep it under 2%. And we are still able to keep it under >> I know Mr. Tavis has a question, but I just want to mention one thing. I did go on to the News Day website today. Yes. And they do have the 1.98 in there. >> Yes. as as the proposed levy. You're talking about the tax levy limit. That may be the higher number. That may be the 2.5. >> Because I will say that what was very nice when I listed all the districts on Long Island. There's over 125 districts on Long Island, we were number 27 in regards to lowest uh tax increase, which is phenomenal. So, >> yeah, >> I think there
080was some zeros there. So, there was we really can't compete with that. >> There was a negative number, too. Yeah. >> And Yeah. >> Yeah. >> It's always good to uh go under 2%. It looks good. It helps the our taxpayers and families here swallow a bitter pill every year. But it's nice that we came under and I really can't believe that News Day were putting information that wasn't accurate. That's amazing. >> Well, it we well not to defend News Day, but it was accurate at the time. So, uh um so um Okay. Uh again, I think I think we've been over this. Uh despite the fact that we're under 2%, there are many uh budget there many enhancements uh to our instructional program. We've been over this. So, I'm just going to move on
081unless anybody has any questions on anything in particular up there. Okay. Good. All right. So, this is um uh this is the the the iterations that we make the f between the first draft uh and the final draft. uh our budgettobudget increase uh at 3 uh67 uh I don't have we don't have yet information uh countywide what that is we really compare ourselves the levy the proposed levy uh but I imagine it it is down uh I I imagine we're probably on the lower end of of of of that as well uh oh yeah the uh Mr. happens to Yeah. The other thing I would I I would I would add to to to your statement, it is nice to keep it under 2%. Yeah. Especially when the rate of inflation, which the controller gives
082us to using the formula was was was above that. It was at 2.6%. Uh and so people can see that, you know, keeping it under 2% when they know inflation's running closer to three. Uh we're really trying to do our part to to to help uh to help in that. >> I agree. The board central office team really did a fantastic job here and I thank everybody included I guess including myself too. So thank you. >> Yes, I'd like to thank me anyway. >> That didn't come out right but you know what I meant. >> Uh all right. So uh and then we've always provided um we've always provided a uh u uh either a an Excel spreadsheet of changes from the of previous iteration. The first two uh we did decide to take out
083the uh the coach bus that was 275. That was one of the items that did affect our tax levy limit. Uh we also moved down the capital appropriation from 2 million to 1.6 million. Uh with regard to that, um obviously um you know, we want to infuse as much as we can into capital because there are many needs beyond what we have. But in a in a in a year where we're also allocating $15 million in a proposition, we felt like this would be a good year. And we still haven't yet gotten much of the building aid because those final cost reports aren't there. But eventually in the next in the next several years we're going to see uh large increases in in building aid and uh so again Mr. Papus, you asked, you have
084asked the question uh over over the years, can we can we use that building aid uh to reinvest in our buildings? And the answer is yes. Because as we begin to bring in that building aid, we can then simultaneously build back up the transfer to capital uh without affecting the levy uh I'm sorry, without affecting the uh tax levy limit. I know we spent we took the charter bus out of the budget, but we spent millions of dollars over the years on security for our kids and safety. And when you hear the horror stories of what happened in Farmingdale and our amazing staff down at the bus depot check our buses and determine that this bus needs new tires, this bus the brakes aren't working properly that are saving our kids' life. So, it was
085$265,000. I actually wish that was in the budget, you know, because we know that bus is in tip-top shape and our kids are in uh are safe. We don't disagree, but the reason that we we we deliberated on this for quite a bit. Dr. Z fought vigorously for it. But I I think our concern is that we could we can buy the bus, but if we don't have enough drivers, we can't drive the bus. And so right now, you know, we don't have a lot of surplus drivers. And so if we, you know, during the day right now, we pretty much do not we there was buses don't go out of the district for anything but regular routes from uh until 9:30 in the morning and then they have to be back by 1:30 in
086the afternoon in order for all of our routes to run, which means that we would only be able to use the charter bus during that time period. the charter bus is really for going far and so I don't want to buy it and it's sitting a lot for the year and because we don't have enough drivers now the goal right is to you know finish our negotiations with CSA and then hire more drivers and then have a surplus of drivers and then buy the charter bus uh the coach I'm sorry coach style bus just so everybody knows it's a yellow school bus it just happens to have bucket seats and luggage underneath um And so, and it's not much more than a regular yellow school bus. Um, but if we can't actually use it for
087its intended purposes, we won't save any money and we'll just have a nice coach style bus. So, um, once we see that the negotiations have worked and we are actually, you know, I think you asked the question the other day about how many drivers would we need to add in order to rely less even on contracted vendors for our internal routes. I think Mr. Reeves told us about 10. Correct? About 10 drivers. So that's just to wean ourselves off of private contractors for our internal routes. That wouldn't then be sending a driver in a charter in a coach style bus with our kids. So I think it's a it's a great idea. It's something we definitely want to do. I just think that it's we're probably a year ahead of ourselves before we can really
088>> I need to apologize because I didn't put that fact that in. So >> no, you don't have to. >> Very important. It's it's exactly what we what we talked about. >> It was our debate. Uh and again I I go go towards uh the bottom there. Uh the reduction in salaries. Uh Miss Gadis talked a little bit about this uh taking taking the breakage uh this year uh because it's it's one of the few years, it's the first year since I've been here that we really could because we had notification prior to the adoption of the budget. However, um you know, there are no free lunches. how we take the savings to help balance this budget, but that's that much of a surplus that we'll generate in the future. So, just, you know, to
089be aware of it. Um, you know, that that is the that is the consequence of, uh, of of doing it that way. But, uh, we will move on. Uh, so again, this is our budget snapshot. Um, again, a 3.67% budget-to-budget increase. Uh I believe that's the lowest uh that we've had in in several years, right? We've been in the fives uh the last few years, >> but budget to budget. Uh and um obviously the uh the tax levy uh is is the lowest we've had in um in several years as well. Um again this was a it this is a duplicate slide but this is where the funding is coming from uh for our capital reserve. Uh there were a couple other smaller sources that are feeding into that. Uh but uh at the end
090of the day uh the proposition that will be before the voters uh will be to approve the expenditure of $15 million uh to fund projects uh that are listed on the referendum uh as well as projects that are contained in our 5-year capital plan that is dated as of tonight that you will also be accepting uh this evening. Um and um unfortunately there is just one more budget presentation that we have to endure. We do by by law have to do a budget hearing but not tonight. That that will be on May 6. So um you know we bring you popcorn and u any any um any questions? >> Yes. >> Oh, I was just going to make a quick comment. I just wanted to say thank you um for all of your hard work
091and your due diligence with this your your office um but also all of the other departments that did the presentations. um you're very thoughtful in how you approach these things um and you really do keep the community's best interest in mind. Um I would also like to give a shout out to my fellow board members and thank you all for your due diligence with this and all of your thoughtful questions. So thank you. >> Go ahead. >> Uh first thing I want to say is you have cute slides. I don't know if that's in a professional opinion, but it's still my opinion. Um, and the next thing is, can you give me a really quick synopsis on how charter school payment tuitions work? Like why why do we pay for charter school tuition for students?
092It's more of like an existential question. No, it's like um right like because it went up. So like that's a responsibility. If they live in our district, we have to pay for them to go to charter schools if that's what they choose to do. Is that basically the >> Yeah, I don't want it to be a copout answer, but our attorneys here, I'm going to guess it's because it's the law that we have to pay. Uh, is that a good answer, >> Sharon? You're you're required by the law to pay. >> Well, while we're required by the law, do we actually get an invoice of what those services they're providing for 39,000 and change or whatever it was? >> I was going to ask a question on that. >> Well, the there are we we
093we they don't they don't break down. It's a it's just a tuition bill. However, we have learned that we we did have a student this year that is also getting uh related services. And so for the uh we we we haven't experienced that yet. And so uh we're um we're we're trying to get before we make any payments, we need to get the backup for that. Um and so um so then we have a departmental budget who pays for that because the tuition's budgeted in one office and the related services is coming out of another office and then no one wants but we we we figured it out. >> That was for one child at $40,000, correct? I believe yet. >> Or was it for five? I'm hopeful. >> In the 30s. I Yeah, it
094was it was Yeah, I think there's a I think there's a >> It's one family. >> It's one one family or two. Oh, I'm sorry. The the transfer tonight that's not related. Sorry. That is That is one family with two children. I think that is just purely tuition. Correct. >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> So, it's 20,000 per kid, >> correct? >> Yeah. I think 19 and change, but yeah. So, a class of 26ers, you're talking about it cost them $520,000 to run a classroom. >> Uh, >> and they're not paying their teachers anything. >> So, 20 I I I I I um >> This is a rhetorical question, by the way. >> Yeah. Uh >> I I I think we'd have to go back and get specific before we start because we start talking like
095off the off the cuff here and I don't we have to collect further information even about the related services comment just to be able to provide the board that information. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, there's a whole formula as to what the district pays. It's not technically considered tuition, but there's a whole formula. So it's it's pretty complicated. So I think we should give them some time to grab that. I I I just don't have using public funds. No. Well, no more questions. Thank you. Thank you, your honor. >> Uh I will also just echo what the board has already said. Mr. Fabiano, thank you to you and your department. I know Linda Doc is here. So, thank you both for your efforts in regards to putting the budget together. It's a very long process.
096We're not there yet. Uh but we do have uh we we just feel that your your department itself does a great job with putting us in a good place as well as with the board in regards to their uh now decades of um conservative fiscal planning that keeps us in a good place where you see other districts that are unfortunately facing some significant challenges. Um, it really is that that as much as we complain about the 5-year planning and how unreliable it is, it really is by making sure that we're thinking about the future all the time uh that we're able to remain in a good place. So, just thank you for all of that work. >> Yes. >> Um, thank you. >> That does uh conclude uh my presentations for tonight. >> Okay. Let
097there be light. Okay. May I have a motion to adjourn the planning session? Jimmy, may I have a second, please? Mike. All in favor? All six of us against? Nobody. All right. Well, meeting. Okay, I got you. All right. Do I have a motion to convene the March 25th, 2026 special meeting of the Levittown Board of Education? Miss Msina. Do I have a second? Miss Peggy Morang. All in favor? Six. We are now moving to our public beheard already. Okay. Period of the special meeting. This is the opportunity for members of the community to speak only on items that appear on the special meeting agenda. Questions directed to the board. President limited to three minutes expected to use the microphone and please clearly state their name and address. Maddie >> of the record. >> For
098the purposes of the recording >> and evening everyone my name is Maddie Buckies and I live at 1297 short place in SE. I'm just going to comment because after I speak you're going to vote on the consent agenda and essentially to item 4.17. My suggestion would be in the summer if we have board meetings would be to hold them in the morning rather than in the evening as other districts do. For example, there's a school district down in Florida that does their meetings um um um out of um at in the summertime at around 9:30. So my suggestion would be maybe in the August board meeting to begin at 9:30 or 10:30 rather than at 7:30. That's all I'm going to have to say. Thank you very much, Chairman Lang. And over to the consent
099agenda. Thank you so much. >> Okay. Um so we are going to uh 3.1 budget transfers. Do I have a motion to accept item 3.1 budget transfers? Jimmy, do I have a second? Peggy, any discussion? Okay. >> Question I was going to ask is already answered uh before. >> Okay. >> Thank you. All in favor? >> Six against zero. Moving on. Uh the schedules uh 3.2. Do I have a motion to item to accept item 3.2 schedules? Maryanne, do I have a second? Jimmy, any discussion? >> Uh President Lang, we are going to just have to make two adjustments. going to pull appointments on schedule 106.1 number five. >> Okay. >> And on schedule 10004 number 10. >> Okay. All in favor? Six against? Zero. Moving on. Okay. Do I have a motion to accept
100items 4.2 to 4.17 on the consent agenda? Jen, a second. Maryanne. Uh, any discussion? No. All in favor? I'm I'm not >> stop >> I'm not doing it against none. Um we have our regular meeting on April 22nd. Um and the next budget uh hearing and regular meeting is going to be May 6th. I am going to make a motion to move into executive session to discuss district personnel and seek advice from district council. Mike, do I have a second? Maryannne, all in favor? All six of us. So be back. >> Thank you. We'll be back. Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Heat. Heat. I'm Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat up here. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey. Hey. Hey. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey. Hey. Hey. Heat. Heat. N. Heat.
101Heat. Heat. I have a motion to adjourn the special meeting. Uh, Maryanne, do I have a second? Peggy, all in favor? Everybody, >> good night. >> I just a little frustration in there. Okay.